By-election bonus: Rochdale, Galloway, Gaza… what now?
Radical with Amol Rajan
BBC
4.5 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 1 March 2024
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
George Galloway is back in parliament with a resounding win in the Rochdale by-election.
In this bonus episode of The Today Podcast Amol and Nick discuss what his victory means and how the Israel-Gaza conflict is shaping politics.
They also look back Galloway’s fifty years in politics and consider how he will operate in a social media age.
Episodes of The Today Podcast land every Thursday and watch out for bonus episodes. Subscribe on BBC Sounds to get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme.
If you would like a question answering, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or email us Today@bbc.co.uk The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the UK’s most influential radio news programme.
Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.
The senior producer is Tom Smithard. The editors are Jonathan Aspinwall and Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Emma Crowe in London and Lucy Harper in Salford. Digital production from Elliot Ryder.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:04.7 | Well, well, well, George Galloway, remember him? |
| 0:07.1 | The former Labour and Respect Party MP is coming back to British politics. |
| 0:10.4 | He's won a huge by-election in Rochdale by almost 6,000 votes. |
| 0:14.4 | And he could fundamentally change British politics in an election year, Nick. |
| 0:18.9 | Yeah, not because his party is going to reshape British politics, |
| 0:24.2 | but he, through his sheer charisma, through his single-minded determination to talk about |
| 0:29.9 | foreign policy, may reshape our national conversation. |
| 0:33.8 | So today, on the today podcast, Rochdale, Galloway, Gaza, what now? |
| 0:39.1 | It's time for a bonus edition. Let's do it. |
| 0:53.5 | Hi, it's Nick at home, chewing over. |
| 0:57.7 | And it's a mole in Solford here because I'm filming University Challenge, |
| 1:01.4 | about 15 miles away from Rochdale, |
| 1:03.1 | where we've seen this absolutely extraordinary result. |
| 1:05.3 | And the question I have for you, Nick, |
| 1:07.0 | is the extent to which you think this was a single issue by-election. |
| 1:10.2 | Well, he said it, didn't he? |
| 1:11.8 | Galloway, he said Galloway for Gaza. |
| 1:15.1 | He had separate leaflets for the Muslim community |
| 1:18.8 | and for the rest of the community in Rochdale. |
| 1:21.8 | The letter to Muslim voters urged them to come together |
| 1:25.1 | to topple the hated Labour leader, who he described as a top |
... |
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